A system made up of a computing device, a display, a touch screen and an actuator for setting the touch screen in motion is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0058265.
A touch screen is also described in German Published Utility Model Patent No. 201 02 197, for instance. German Published Utility Model Patent No. 201 02 197 describes a touch screen for visually representing electronic signals and for inputting signs and symbols by touching the screen for confirmation purposes. It includes a functional plane for visual representation and keystroke input and a higher-level protective plane corresponding to it that is deformable at certain points. In this context, when certain points of the functional plane are selected by touching contact across the protective plane, at least one confirmation signal is generated so as to be perceptible to the user's sense of touch (haptic stimulus), at the position of the point of contact in the deformed protective plane, and the confirmation signal for the sense of touch (haptic stimulus) is generated by vibration elements eccentrically positioned within and/or underneath the functional plane. In addition, in the touch screen described in German Published Utility Model Patent No. 201 02 197, the generated vibrations are transmitted from the functional plane to the protective plane as the result of direct contacting of the two planes and/or via the edge regions of the planes by rigid or elastic connecting elements.
Details concerning touch screens may be gathered, for example, from the Internet page www.3m.com/3mtouchsystems/.
In German Published Utility Model Patent No. 201 80 024 and PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 01/54109, a touch-sensitive control featuring haptic feedback for inputting signals into a computer and for outputting forces to a user of the touch-sensitive control is described for haptic feedback, the touch-sensitive control having a touch-sensitive input device which has a virtually planar touch-screen surface that is operated such that, on the basis of a position on the touch-screen surface touched by a user, a positional signal is input into a processor of the computer, the positional signal reproducing the position in two dimensions. The touch-sensitive control described in PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 01/54109 also has at least one actuator connected to the touch-screen input device, the actuator outputting a force to the touch-screen input device in order to provide the user touching the touch-screen surface with a haptic sensation, the actuator outputting the force directly to the touch-screen input device on the basis of force information output by the processor.
Haptic feedback is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,429,846, PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 03/038800, PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 02/073587 and PCT International Published Patent Application No. WO 03/41046.
German Published Patent Application No. 197 31 285 describes an operating element for a device having a plurality of selectable menus, functions, and/or functional values, which has a surface that is understandable to the user and via which the selection is able to be made by locally moving or touching the operating surface. The form of the surface can be altered to conform with the selected and/or selectable menu, function and/or functional value.